1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector terminal used for electrical connection between devices equipped in an automobile and so on, more specifically, to a connector terminal used for a connector into which a circuit board having a terminal on a surface thereof is fit. The present invention relates further to a connector including the connector terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a connector into which a circuit board having a terminal at a marginal area of a surface thereof is inserted, there is known a connector suggested in Japanese Patent No. 3669268.
FIG. 18 is a cross-sectional view of the connector suggested in Japanese Patent No. 3669268.
As illustrated in FIG. 18, the connector 100 is composed of a first housing 101 and a second housing 102 insertable into the first housing 101. The first housing 101 includes a circuit board 103 having a terminal 104 at a marginal area of a surface thereof. The second housing 102 includes a metal terminal 105 which makes contact with the terminal 104 when the second housing 102 is fit into the first housing 101.
The metal terminal 105 is formed by bending an electrically conductive sheet. The metal terminal 105 includes at a rear end thereof a wire connector 111 to which a wire W can be connected. The metal terminal 105 further includes a hollow connector 116 ahead of the wire connector 111, and a resilient contact piece 109 situated in the hollow connector 116 and bent into substantially a loop.
The first housing 101 includes at a bottom inner wall 106 thereof a pair of pushers 107 extending towards an opening of the first housing 101. Each of the pushers 107 includes at a distal free end thereof a guide surface 108 by which the resilient contact piece 109 of the metal terminal 105 is pushed.
In the connector 100, when the second housing 102 is inserted into the first housing 101, as illustrated in FIG. 19, the circuit board 103 enters the second housing 102 through an opening 112, and then, the pushers 107 enter spaces 114 through openings 113. As illustrated in FIG. 20, as the circuit board 103 forwards in the second housing 102, the guide surfaces 108 push a portion 115 of the resilient contact piece 109. Thus, the resilient contact piece 109 is resiliently deformed towards the circuit board 103. When the circuit board 103 is moved to a predetermined position, the first and second housings 101 and 102 are completely fit to each other, in which condition, the pushers 107 push first bending points 117 of the resilient contact piece 109 towards the circuit board 103 to thereby cause the resilient contact piece 109 to make contact, at a contact portion 118 thereof, with the terminal 104 of the circuit board 103.
In the above-mentioned conventional connector 100, when the second housing 102 is fit into the first housing 101, the pushers 107 compress the first bending portions 117 of the resilient contact piece 109 towards the circuit board 103 to thereby cause the resilient contact piece 109 to be resiliently deformed at its entirety towards the circuit board 103. Accordingly, it is necessary for the connector 100 to have in the metal terminal 105 both a space to house the resilient contact piece 109 therein and a space to house the pushers 107 therein. Consequently, the connector 100 is accompanied with a problem in that the terminal metal 105 is unavoidably necessary to be large in a size, and accordingly, the connector 100 housing the terminal metal 105 therein is unavoidably necessary to be large in a size.